


Hot Cross Bun

by notHarold



Series: Cooking and Eating With Velvet [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bullying, Gen, Ilia Attends Beacon, the rest of team CRDL appears but they are fairly blank, the team of OCs that Ilia joins is slightly less blank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 12:38:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17662796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notHarold/pseuds/notHarold
Summary: After two weeks of camping out for a mission, Velvet wants nothing more than a hot dinner, a long shower, and to sleep until noon. Team CRDL interferes, crossingThe Linein the process.





	Hot Cross Bun

**Author's Note:**

> If anything looks or sounds weird, especially concerning Ilia, it's because this and the parent AU was originally written with an OC in mind.

Velvet sighed and smiled as she made her way through the cafeteria. Her dinner’s aroma, steaming hot and as good as the staff could make it, wafted right into her face as she strode between the crowded tables at a sedate pace. She barely managed to keep from drooling over her meal. It was still a mass-cooked, school-made meal, but after two weeks of dried this and dehydrated that, Velvet felt like this was a little piece of heaven. Then her tray tilted up toward her, and heaven spilled down her front. The loss froze Velvet in place. Her tray slipped through her limp hands and clattered to the floor.

"Whoops, clumsy me," Cardin snickered. The rest of his team laughed more wholeheartedly, but Cardin held back for the moment. None of them noticed how their upperclassmen began to scurry away. None of them heard the whispers warning the other first-years to stand back. "Y’know, I think there was a sale on carrots down in the city. Maybe if you hurry, you can hop down and back before lights out."

It took everything Velvet had to just stand and breathe. She knew Cardin ridiculed her in front of the rest of the student body, but it was nothing more than a distant awareness. The same could be said of the food seeping into her combat apparel. She knew it was hot, sticky, and a complete mess, but it was food, and she was hungry. Velvet knew there was no salvaging her dinner. She knew that scraping the scraps off of herself and trying to gobble it down was disgusting. Even so, there was no denying the thought of trying. Even splattered on the floor it called to her.

"Get a move on," Russel chortled as he gave Velvet a push. She stumbled a step, then spun around to face him with a dead, slack-jawed stare. "You’re gonna—" Velvet’s heel slammed into his jaw and cut him off. The rest of his team jumped back at the sudden attack. Cardin even squealed.

"I’ll try to make this short," Velvet stated, hints of life seeping back into her expression as she slowly turned her attention to Cardin. Dove and Lark decided that they would make it shorter. They both jumped across the table to get revenge. Velvet kicked the former into the latter, and they landed in a heap. Just as Cardin tried to rise, she shoved him back onto the bench and set her heel into his crotch. "You can listen, or you can scream when I crush your balls."

Some of Velvet’s skin prickled. She looked up to find her team staring at her. Coco even deigned to lower her sunglasses to ensure her vision was as clear as it could be. Cardin followed her gaze and silently pleaded them to grant him some small mercy. Coco composed herself first. "Do you need me to get you some clothes, Velv?" she asked. "I’m sure I can find something in our dorm."

Velvet managed a smile. "No, I’ll manage," she answered. "Thanks for asking." Coco nodded and lead the rest of her team to take a front-row seat to the show from a safer distance. With that, she turned back to Cardin, her smile gone. "Are you paying attention?" Cardin nodded like a bobble-head, desperate to appease her. "Good. You see, I just got back from a mission." Velvet gestured down at her outfit for emphasis. "I was looking forward to a big dinner, a long shower, and sleeping until noon tomorrow." She leaned forward and let Cardin squirm under the increased pressure. "You just deprived me of one of these things." Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a frown. "Fix the problem, or I fix you. Do you understand?" As Cardin nodded furiously, Velvet glanced down. She wiggled her foot, and Cardin froze, caught. "Good. You have five minutes to get me an appetizer. Try to run, and I will hunt you like a grimm." She leaned down to whisper into his ear. "Get off on this, and you'll wish I only hunt you." At that Velvet stepped back. "Get going."

While Cardin scrambled to obey, Velvet took a seat by Coco. She leaned back and rested an arm on the table. Her gaze drifted down toward Russel, Dove, and Lark as she crossed her legs. They gawked up at her, and she decided to put them to use. "You." She pointed at Lark. "Napkins, now." To Dove, she ordered, "Find me a bottle of whiskey and a glass; don’t come back with a flask." She turned her attention to Russel and decided, "You can run to Vale and grab a copy of every fashion and photography magazine you can find." The boys stared at her. "Or you can fight me."

Russel took his chances and lunged up at Velvet. The huntress needed only uncross her legs and kick him. The boy flew back over the table across from her and slammed into the wall. Velvet stood up and spared Dove and Lark her attention. They needed no more encouragement and ran, leaving Russel to experience Velvet’s ire. The cafeteria watched as Velvet stepped over a table. Her attention fixed on Russel, recovering from his impact. He only just found his senses as Velvet stepped down and cast her shadow on him. Just as he tried to look up, Velvet stepped on his head and pressed his face into the floor. The boy tried to struggle his way up, but a few kicks to his gut subdued him.

"I can think of a few things you can do for me, Russel," Velvet mused as she stepped on the boy’s face. "You can keep trying to fight me and lose horribly, you can sit there and be my punching bag when I get bored of waiting for your teammates, or you can do as I asked." She glanced at her watch. "If you hurry, you might make it back in time for lights out." With that, she turned away and wound her way back to her team. Russel fled.

Just as Velvet took her seat, the cafeteria doors slammed open. All eyes turned expecting Professor Goodwitch, but it was just Cardin scrambling in with a tray of hot buns. A rolling pin flew in from outside and pegged him in the back of the head. The leader of team CRDL cried out in premature mourning, and even Velvet's heart jumped at the threat of wasted food, but just as the tray left his hold, a first-year darted in to save the buns from an untimely demise. Velvet glanced down at her watch. He had only taken four minutes.

As Velvet rose, she considered Cardin and the girl that chased him in. The team leader attacked with the desperation of a dead man. He was so focused on the buns that he failed to notice Velvet walking up to deliver judgement on him. His adversary reeled back with the tray and brought it down with a crack. Cardin fell to the floor clutching his face, leaving Velvet to place his triumphant opponent.

It was Blake’s friend from team GALE judging by the long, brown ponytail and freckles, Ilia if memory served. Another member, the dainty girl— Lillian, huffed and puffed at cafeteria door. Ilia froze, finally aware of the atmosphere in the room and jerked to face Velvet. Her expression fell when he saw her. She leaned slightly to look past her, no doubt at the mess on the floor, then moved to meet her halfway.

Before Velvet could say a word, Ilia knelt and bowed her head. She offered up the tray of buns. "If it pleases you, take this for your table," she said as though she were paying tribute to royalty. Velvet raised her brow at the gesture. She considered the buns themselves, painted with a lattice of white icing, and found the thought of refusing them too painful to bear.

"Thank you for this fine gift," Velvet stated as she took the tray. She started to turn away, but thought better of it. "Won’t you come and join me? It would please me greatly." She let Ilia consider the offer and turn to exchange looks with Lillian. When she shook she head, Velvet shrugged and turned address Cardin.

The sound of running turned Velvet back toward the door. Dove panted and raised a large bottle with a piddling amount of amber liquid inside. "Here’s your whiskey," the boy wheezed, drawing disgust from Lillian. "Xanthus Top Line." Velvet recognized it as a disgusting and dilute brand with a misleading name, but it would have to do. "Nothing better on campus." He stumbled up to deliver the bottle, but Lillian snatched it away. "Hey!" Before Dove could reclaim his prize, Lillian spiked the bottle into a trash bin, shattering it. "Hey!"

Lillian pointed toward Velvet. "It was for you, right?" she confirmed as she marched over. At Velvet’s nod, Lillian produced a flask and tossed it over. When Velvet raised it in question, Lillian noted softly, "It’s Laurel Grove." Velvet let out a little gasp and began to reconsider her view of the girl before her. "It’s not the best on campus, but it would be crazy to take anything from Professor Goodwitch’s stock."

"I don’t doubt it," Velvet commented, resolving to put on a pleasant expression for her company. She gestured toward the seats near her team as best she could and reiterated her offer, "Are you sure you won't join us?"

"It would be my pleasure," Lillian answered sweetly. She nodded toward the rolling pin on the floor. "But Ilia and I need to clean up. Maybe some other time." She collected her friend with a tap and bid Velvet farewell. "We’ll see you around."

"I’ll be sure to return your flask, but I can’t promise it won’t be empty." At that, Velvet turned to Cardin and Dove. "Congratulations, boys, Ilia and Lillian just raised the bar," she began. She took a moment to unscrew Lillian’s flask and sniff its contents. Its aroma foretold of a wondrous experience to come. "I’ll admit, you lucked out. I was hoping you’d fail." Velvet focused on Cardin. "That said, if you try to get me stolen goods again, consider yourself dead." To Dove she noted, "And you should know better than to oversell a bottom-shelf product."

"But she gave you a flask," Dove protested.

"She offered her own," Velvet retorted. "I wanted none of your swill or something you stole from a random student. I am content to share Lillian’s flask." Her eyes narrowed. "And do you really want to question me right now?" Dove cowered. "That’s what I thought." She took a breath and ordered, "Get me a dinner to match my guests’ contributions or beg for mercy. I'll be generous: you have a half-hour and you can get me my dinner piecemeal."

Cardin and Dove scattered the moment Velvet turned. To her pleasure, Lark waited by her team, frozen in terror. She let him stew in his fear as she deposited the buns on the table and took her seat. "It’s a good day to be me," she laughed as she gestured for a few napkins.

"It’s times like these that make me wonder why I’m the leader," Coco commented as she passed buns out to Fox and Yatsuhashi. She leaned over to whisper, "Are you sure you’re doing alright, Velvet? Remember what happened last year?" When Velvet deflated, Coco quickly backpedalled, "Right, of course you do. Just..." Coco sighed. "Just remember that you’re not alone."

"Of course," Velvet murmured as she did her best to clean herself up. "How could I forget?" She glanced over toward the other students. Many avoided her eyes. Some went as far as ducking their heads, and a few were hurrying to eat and get out. "Just another year to deal with the fallout of my temper."

"That’s not what I meant," Coco insisted. "You have a team to look out for you." She smiled when Velvet turned to face her and consider her teammates. "I mean, Goodwitch might skin us, but you won’t need to deal with everyone on your own." That earned her a laugh. "I can’t promise I’ll stop anyone from calling you Queen Scarlatina though. It was cool."

"Everyone was scared of me," Velvet argued half-heartedly.

"They had respect for you," Coco countered. "You had boundaries." She spared Lark a glance. "No one picked on you." She sighed. "I mean, it’s good you wanted to try and deal with these bullies without going all out on them, but you have to admit, you got results tonight."

"And a one-way ticket to Professor Goodwitch’s office within the week," Velvet sighed. "I’m not looking forward to that." She eyed Coco. "Don’t try to cover for me when that happens. She will find out and it’ll be group detentions and campus confinement all over again."

"And eternal servitude from our classmates," Coco reminded with a smirk.

As it turned out, Cardin and Dove managed to scrounge up a respectable meal. It still took them an hour to get it to her, and it had more meat than Velvet cared for. She ate it all. Then she dumped Cardin in a trash bin for dessert. Russel ran into her on her way back from her shower. He was dirty, ragged, and laden with magazines. Velvet counted herself lucky to have found an entire team so easily made obedient. She wondered how long it would last.

* * *

In a rarely used common room, Lillian and Ilia shared first dibs on a second batch of buns. They ate in silence, still digesting what they encountered in the cafeteria. It took their partners’ arrival to break the dead air.

"What happened to sharing?" Eirwen demanded as she snatched up a bun. "And didn’t you two say we’d all have half of a tray to ourselves?" She bit a chunk and tried to bring up another point, but succumbed to the bun’s flavor.

"Eirwen’s foodgasm aside, where did you two go?" Griselda inquired. "I came down to check on you earlier, but you were gone." She cocked her head toward the counters. "Goodwitch caught me in here with your mess. She gave me _the Look_ until I got started sorting it out."

"We chased down a thief," Ilia started.

"It was Winchester," Lillian specified.

"And the buns?" Griselda prompted.

"Given as tribute," Ilia answered.

"To who?"

"Velvet Scarlatina from second-year team CFVY." Lillian shivered. "She was—"

"Terrifying," Ilia supplied.

"Hot," Lillian finished her thought.

"Obviously, but still—"

"Terrifying, yes, but—"

"Hot, agreed."

Doubt narrowed Griselda’s eyes. "The easy mark?"

"The Lesser Queen of Beacon," Ilia and Lillian chorused.

Griselda grimaced. "So the upperclassmen weren’t lying," she mused. And then she had a bun and joined Eirwen in bliss.

**Author's Note:**

> Neither Velvet nor Team CFVY suffer detentions for this. Professor Goodwitch awards Velvet bonus points for "managing combat strength against weaker opponents" and "maintaining public order through disciplinary action."


End file.
